Miyamoto Wants Pikmin 3 To Be Like Original

The legendary game designer says that he wants the next Pikmin game to have that same sense of urgency that the original Pikmin had.

Shigeru Miyamoto was recently interviewed by GamesMaster and he spoke about Nintendo’s upcoming Pikmin 3. Miyamoto claimed that he wanted this sequel to have a lot more in common with the original Pikmin game rather than the more relaxed Pikmin 2.

One of the key differences between Pikmin and Pikmin 2 was the removed time limit that the original GameCube title was renowned for. Whilst this made the game a lot more stressful, it was something that gamers fell in love with.

Miyamoto said outright that he wasn’t happy that they had to remove the time limit from Pikmin 2 in order to make the game less stressful, but that’s what he wants to bring back with Pikmin 3. When asked about that in the interview he had this to say:

That’s actually something that all the staff members had to debate over when we were discussing what kind of direction we should take for Pikmin 3. First of all by looking at Pikmin 1 we noticed that it wasn’t a very easy game for people to play, and from time to time they had to feel some stress.

Our main aim in Pikmin 2 was to get rid of any stress as much as possible, so that it would be very user-friendly. Well, I myself couldn’t agree with that direction perfectly. That kind of nature of Pikmin 1 was exactly what I wanted to reproduce and I was actually intentionally doing so, so that Pikmin 1 could be a strategic game.

So, it looks like we might be going back to basics with the latest game. Whilst Miyamoto hasn’t stated explicitly that time limits will be making a return, it looks like we can expect something that will bring back that sense of urgency that made the first game so good.

If we don’t see the return of time limits, then what other gameplay elements could be introduced to help ramp up that stress level in a way that won’t put off new players? Perhaps we’ll get to see more of the dangerous creatures that roam the night-time of the Pikmin world and find new ways to combat that threat.